Remnant's Vampire Hunter
by Seb Paul
Summary: A quiet hunter receives a contract from beyond the grave. Now tasked with the protection of a little rose, he will show the witch and her false gods that nothing lasts forever.


**Disclaimer: **

**RWBY belongs to the company known as Rooster Teeth.**

**Vampire Hunter D novels belong to Hideyuki Kikuchi.**

Remnant's Vampire Hunter

Walking to her mother's grave during the time of this year was a bit difficult, but a bit of snow and wind weren't enough to stop a huntress in training like her.

She hadn't told her father or sister where she was going, but things had been a little rough with the exams at Signal academy and the fact that her older sister Yang would be leaving soon for Beacon and they would be separated for a couple of years, was turning out to be the chocolate chip on the cookie as she liked to say.

Snow was falling gently around the trees and she could already see the cliffside where the tombstone was located.

And that was when she saw him, kneeling in front of her mother's tomb.

The first thing that she noticed was how tall he was, even taller than her father or her uncle Qrow. From where he was standing, he appeared like a black shape wearing a wide brimmed traveler's hat.

The sound of snow crunching under her feet must have captured his attention as he slowly rose and turned towards her.

Ruby's breath hitched in her throat.

The man had a faded black long coat over a skintight armored black suit, that showed his impressive physique, a combat utility belt and some sort of blue pendant that weirdly resembled an eye.

However, being the weapons fanatic that she was, the curved longsword strapped to his back immediately captured her attention. Its design looked gorgeous with a black and gold theme accentuating the sword's long curved hilt. Honestly the sword looked bigger than she was and the urge to examine it immediately came to her.

But all that paled the moment she saw his face.

Now, Ruby was a barely sixteen years old young woman and up until then the concept of "chasing boys", as her sister used to say, was something that she was utterly and completely oblivious to. As a matter of fact, she was so innocent that a couple of months back in Signal Academy, she caught her sister making out with a boy in the lockers and mistakenly thought that her sister was performing CPR on him. Ruby then used her semblance and screamed bloody murder through the building for the teachers to call the paramedics and the police.

That memory still brought her great embarrassment. Especially since her uncle Qrow, who was a teacher there, wouldn't stop laughing about it and ended up teasing her for weeks.

Despite all that, the face of the tall man standing in front of her, brought forth some very warm and tingling feelings in her chest and if anyone who knew her personally witnessed this scene, they would've been shocked at the massive blush that appeared over the young woman's normally pale complexion.

The only word Ruby could use to describe his face was, flawless. So much so that it was weirdly otherworldly, with no blemishes or any other sort of esthetical imperfections.

At that moment she genuinely thought that this man was the most beautiful person she had ever seen. And that was saying a lot considering the fact that her older sister, father and even her uncle could pass off for supermodels themselves, as did most huntsman and huntresses that awakened their aura before puberty.

Even herself.

If it wasn't for his broad chest and large shoulders, she would have mistakenly thought he was a woman.

Realizing she was staring she hurried out and stammered an apology.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to face…I-I mean to stare…I mean…uh…you know." She finished lamely.

The man's eyes were strangely hidden by that large hat of his, but for a fraction of a second, she thought she'd seen a ghost of a smile.

"Um, I saw you kneeling in front of the grave and thought that maybe you knew mom, so I'm a bit curious about that," she kept on rambling "I mean, did you like work together sometimes and you decided to pay a visit? If so that's super nice and I know mom would have liked that."

She swallowed a little as the man just kept standing there not uttering a sound. It didn't help that she'd always been horribly awkward when meeting new people and this new character wasn't making things easy for her.

"I come here too, from time to time just to speak with her and tell her about the stuff that's been going on. That kind of makes things better – talking to her that is." For some reason she couldn't stop talking and her hands were getting a little sweaty, curse her social anxiety. Why couldn't she speak as easy to other people as she could when she spoke to Crescent Rose or other weapons that she really liked.

"Sooo…are you going to say something?"

"…"

"Okay, this is getting weird." She whispered the last part to herself, when the stranger still wouldn't talk. She jumped a little when he turned around and made his way towards his horse.

'_Well that was rude of him and where did that horse come from?'_, she thought as the man climbed the animal.

"_You have your mother's face_."

Ruby was startled by his smooth voice and she turned her head in surprise only to stare wide eyed at his departing form.

"H-hey wait!" she called out to the stranger, but he was already quite far.

Ruby stared at his moving back for a while and contemplated giving chase. But she figured that harassing some stranger, that clearly had better things to do than humoring a fifteen years old girl, was not really the best idea. Even if he apparently knew her mom from somewhere.

While listening to the distant sound of hooves crunching through the snow, she turned her attention back to her mother's grave.

"That guy was a little rude, mom. Was he really a friend of yours?" she asked with a sigh.

Meanwhile, the mysterious figure pulled on the lead rope and the horse grind to a halt, before glancing back towards the girl.

"**Hmm, so you've felt it too"**, a grating voice could be heard, strangely coming from his hands. He inclined his head and narrowed his eyes at the red clad young woman who was now kneeling in front of her mother's grave.

No human could ever hope to perceive, what his eyes could see then, despite a few select humans who had the gift of witnessing the departed, but the eyes of a Nosferatu could see things well beyond the material world. They could catch a glimpse of the world _beyond,_ between the cracks of the wall of reality and the billowing white cloak in front of the grave was unmistakable.

"**It's her, it has to be!" **the raspy voice paused before continuing in a surprised tone **"You couldn't draw her out but it seems Little Red could." **

The young man didn't avert his eyes from the supernatural event "_Of course, what mother wouldn't react to her daughter's sadness_." He replied in his quiet tone.

The white clad specter seemed to stare at the little red themed girl, who kept on talking, unaware that her words were being heard. Then after a while it turned its head towards him and for the first time in centuries, he felt his composure breaking.

"**Oh, heavens…her eyes…"**

Summer Rose's eyes that gleamed like silver pearls, were gone, ripped from their sockets. The same eyes that gleamed in excitement whenever he praised her, or shined with mischievousness whenever she pranked him and glimmered with sadness and determination whenever injustice befell them, were now gone.

His anger boiled beneath the surface, threatening to erupt like a volcano and it took all his willpower, that he had carefully cultivated for thousands upon thousands of years, to suppress it. And at that moment only a single thought ran through his mind.

'_I'm the one to blame for this' _

His adoptive daughter was dead and the pain that came with that realization proved to be more then even his cold heart could bear.

Despite his iron will and self-control, Summer's spirit sensed his deep sadness and seemed to resonate with it. He could feel her touch brushing against his mind and his normal barriers fell like sand to her presence. In less than a fraction of the speed of a thought she was in front of him and he could feel the coldness of death surrounding him.

It did not bother him, as death had always been a part of him. He was born from death and it would always carry its mark upon him as long as he walked the earth.

A tender white hand reached out from beneath the cloak and touched his heart.

'_This was not your fault, stop trying to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders', _her voice whispered as the wind and it eased some of his pain and guilt.

It seemed that even in death, she was always worrying about him.

She turned from him and looked back towards the girl still kneeling in front of her grave. The little red clad girl that smiled at him and asked if he was a friend. The moment he saw that young woman he knew exactly who she was and a deep sense of shame overtook his senses. So, he mounted his horse and walked away. Away from the silver eyed daughter whose mother he had failed.

'_Please protect her, my sweet little Ruby, my little angel.'_

Summer looked back at him and begged him once more.

'_Please, D."_

The tall man whose name was 'D' stared at her before his eyes hardened in determination and only gave a simple nod.

She smiled as he always was a man of few words but his message was clear as day for her. He would keep her safe, no matter what.

Perhaps now she could rest, knowing that her daughter's fate would not follow her own and with a gust of wind and falling snow she was gone.

D stared at the place she occupied for a while, before his attention turned towards the grave in the distance, the young girl was gone and in her absence the place seemed a lot colder and lonelier. It was almost unfair to Summer that her tomb was located so far away from the nearest settlement, but he knew that this grave was symbolic as no body had been found in the wake of her death.

The eerie silence was interrupted once more by the hollowing wind and the chuckle of a familiar raspy voice.

"**So once more into the frying pan, eh?" **the voice seemed amused by the recent events, **"Only this time you've been hired by the ghost of a dead woman, whom you considered your daughter in all but flesh and blood." **

D ignored the comments and steered the horse towards the forest, where Summer's daughter entered, judging by the fresh tracks left on the snowfield.

"**Hmm, you definitely have a personal stake in this, so that's a first" **The voice kept on voicing its thoughts unperturbed **"I can already feel the concern rolling off of you in waves and quite frankly it's very unprofessional of you." **

One could practically see the grin of the owner of that voice, even though there was nobody in the vicinity other than the young man riding softly upon his horse. The trees were getting larger, their branches covered in snow straining under the weight of all that frozen water.

The young man felt the cold but it did not bother him, not even the absolute minus temperatures of vacuum space could affect him and so a little trek through a forest in the middle of winter felt like a stroll through the park during summer time.

He pulled on the rope and the horse stopped.

If one would look at him, they would see the dark figure standing absolutely still, no chest movement or tremor from the cold frigid air whatsoever.

No vapor coming from warm breath either.

The tree branches creaked and moaned under the ice and still the man listened.

"**Yeah, I can hear them too and these things aren't being too subtle about it either." **The mysterious voice spoke again, who was that?

"_Be quiet_" The silent man commanded in a quiet and strong tone.

After a couple more seconds of standing still, he steered the horse again in a lazy jog.

Snow was beginning to fall again and a cold mist slowly enveloped their surroundings, masking the dark figures that creeped through the darkness.

"_There are at least fifty of them, all heading towards the meadow_," the man spoke unemotionally, no sign of concern in his tone whatsoever.

"**I know and it's rather pitiful isn't it? Stalking a little girl like that, shameful it's what it is." **Replied the voice but with a hint of mockery.

The situation became urgent when the unmistaken sound of gunfire was heard.

D tapped the horse with his heels and it started galloping towards the clearance, just in time for them to witness the battle between the little red huntress in training and a pack of Grimm Beowolves.

"**Hmm, she's good," **said the mysterious voice while analyzing the fight **"Not as good as her mother was but the potential is definitely there and IS THAT A FREAKIN' SCYTHE?!"**

Indeed, while in the air Little Red unfolded from her back what appeared to be the love child between a sniper and a garden tool, then proceeded to absolutely destroy the dark creatures.

"_You were saying?"_ said the young man in a deadpan.

"**Shut up. So, I might have overjudged a little so sue me."**

D observed the fight for a time then steered the horse away, backtracking their way through the forest.

"**Hey, hey, aren't you going to, you know, follow the girl? I mean we have a mission and it's not like we have anything better to do."**

D stayed silent as always, there was no need to meet her just yet and the red themed girl proved that she could handle herself in danger. This was a breath of fresh air, as most protection missions usually involved a lot of rescuing and babysitting. The girl's extensive aptitude towards combat honestly gave him a lot of freedoms.

When the gunshots ended, he turned his head and peered through the distance, just in time to see the girl posing with her massive red weapon while surrounded by cartridges and the smoke of the dissolving Grimm.

'_Like mother, like daughter'_

__

_Author's Note: Do yourself a favor and watch Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, they don't make anime like this anymore.  
_


End file.
